Embassy News

Austria to support progress made during Paris meeting on Cyprus
2006-03-08 14:54:55

Vienna, Mar 8 -- Austrian National Council President Mr. Antreas Kohl said on Wednesday that his country would do its utmost to support the progress achieved on the Cyprus problem during the meeting between Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Paris on February 28.

Mr. Kohl was speaking after a meeting he had on Wednesday with Cypriot House President Demetris Christofias, who was visiting Vienna at Kohl's invitation.

''We discussed the results of that meeting in Paris and I think that there is progress and Austria will do what ever it can to support Cyprus which is a country close to our hearts and we have always supported the Cypriot case,'' Mr. Kohl also said.

Mr. Christofias said that he briefed Kohl about the outcome of the Paris meeting, noting that the precondition for steps to be taken forward on Cyprus is the Turkish side's acceptance of the Paris meeting's outcome.

He also said that he asked Mr. Kohl to discuss Turkey's obligations to expand its Customs Union with the ten new EU member-states including the Republic of Cyprus, during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul who is visiting Vienna.

''I have stressed that the Turkish side should accept what was achieved in Paris, so we can make steps forward both towards the development of trust between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots and towards narrowing the gap dividing the two sides as regards the essence of the Cyprus problem, so to prepare the ground for a meeting on the level of the leaders of the two communities, who they will negotiate the essence of the problem, so we can reach an agreed solution,'' Mr. Christofias said.